Canterlot Academy Trials

Outside…

Nebula followed Harissa down an alleyway until--

“Okay, bucko,” she force-grabbed him by the neck with her magic, pulling him down to her level, “If you don’t wanna have your life ruined, you better start listening to me.”

“Blegh!” The force of her magic caused him to cough and sputter before shaking his head, “W-what? What are you talking about?”

Harissa used her magic and pushed him against the nearest wall. “It’s like how mom told me: Cute stallions like you are meant to lie back and do as we say. Mares like her run this city, got it?”

While they were ‘talking’ several shadows started to loom over them from the rooftops of the buildings overlooking the alley…

Nebula couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Such a pessimistic view towards stallions was staggering. His ears flicked as he processed what she said. “...A-are you serious?”

“Oh come on,” she replied with a scoff as she started pacing back and forth in front of him, “You can’t seriously ignore the obvious signs in front of you. Mares like my mom run this place. Is it any wonder why the ones in power are always Princesses? Because they’re stronger. Smarter,” she added while tapping the side of her head. “Idiot guys like Prince Blueblood are never gonna have a chance with their little pea-brains. And when Luster Dawn takes the throne next, guys like you will just need to stay home and do as we say.”

Bam.

About a dozen Royal Guardsponies--including Tungsten Wolfe, dropped down and surrounded Harissa. The young mare’s expression turned cold as she realized the numerous presences that were nearby.

“...”

With a slow flicker, she deactivated her magical hold on Nebula, causing him to drop to the ground as she turned around to try and play it off with a sheepish smile.

“Err…I-I didn’t mean it?”

Tungsten stepped forward alongside a guardsmare.

“You ain’t gettin’ outta this one,” he commented as the armored mare next to him. “Take her to the common area of the castle, ya’ll. Need a confession outta her before Twilight decides on her sentence.”

“Yes, sir,” the guarsmare replied as she apprehended Harissa via placing a magic blocker ring on her horn and hoisting her into her back to carry her. “Up you go, ya little demon.”

As she was carried off by the guards, Harissa had a defeated expression on her face, as if she knew her failure would result in disappointment from her mother…

Nebula stood upright and dusted himself off. “Well that went just about how I expected it to go,” he remarked sarcastically with Tungsten staying behind to check on him.

“You okay, big man?” Tungsten asked while looking his squire over.

“I’m good…thank you,” he replied sincerely.

Tungsten patted him on the back of his neck. “Good. Now go ahead and finish out what ya’ll started. Your friends are waitin’.”

“Of course.” With newfound motivation, and a steeled gaze, Nebula started running back towards the penthouse building. “I won’t let them down.”

Inside Zesty’s massage room…

“Ach! What in the devil’s name was that?”

The mare yelped in response to a shooting pain in her back that was the result of Grimrose taking her chance with the incision of the sharp edge of her feather to draw blood.

“You got a small cut,” Rose gave a logical answer that wasn’t technically a lie. “I’m going to dress it with some healing balm.”

“Thank you,” Zesty replied as she relaxed, none the wiser of what had just happened. “I can’t show up to a competition with an open wound holding me back.”

Grimrose answered in her fake-happy tone, “No prob!”

Outside…

Blue jumped down out of the tree and cracked his knuckles as he joined Nebula. “You ready, my man? This’ll be your first time entering someone’s mind dungeon.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he strutted forward with his head held high, much to Blue’s confusion.

“...Uh, what are you doing?”

“Blending in,” Nebula whispered as he continued to trot with a gallant stride which caught the attention of a few nearby high-class mares his age. “This place is pretty bougie and filled with shallow ponies. Follow me.”

With a shrug, Blue began to strut after his unicorn friend with his arms at his side and his fists balled up confidently, swaying his arms back and forth with each step. The exaggerated swagger of the blue dragon caused him to blend in perfectly alongside Nebula as the two made their way to the elevator.

“Whew,” Blue huffed, and put his claws on his knees once the elevator doors shut and started to take them upwards. “Goddamn, I’m glad we managed to get through that. Felt like I was gonna suffocate from pumping out my chest so hard. What's with Canterlot's obsession with material crap and appearances?”

Nebula thought over the rather suffocating atompshere of the building as Blue put it. Unfortunately, all he could think
to say was a rather cryptic statement. "...Opulence is sinful my dude. And it looks like we're all paying for it."

"Shit..." Blue muttered, "...guess that does sum up Canterlot, huh?"

“All the more reason why we need to incite change on a social level here. C'mon, we’re almost there,” Nebula called out as he watched the elevator numbers tick upwards to the top floor, “Let’s be careful now, huh?”

Ding!

Once they got off the elevator, they heard a voice call out to them.

“Psst. Over here,” Mei’s voice came from the end of the hall where she was.

The boys went over to her, and they all gathered in a quick huddle.

“Alright, what’s going on with Rose?” Blue asked, “Does she have what we need yet?”

“She’s almost done,” Mei replied, “Don’t worry, I’ve already disabled the security cameras on this floor with a magical overload. Once Rose is finished, we’ll be ready to go inside of Zesty’s head--”

Just then, the door swung open, causing the trio to cling to the wall with their backs against it in complete silence as Grimrose left the apartment.

“Take care now, ‘kay?” she called out in her fake-peppy tone before shutting the door behind herself. After which, she immediately hung her head in disgust. “...yuck. I can’t believe I actually did that.”

The rest of the group took a relaxed breath once they were in the clear. Nebula approached her first.

“...jeez, was it that bad, Rose?”

“Nevermind that,” she chose to swiftly move away from the subject whilst taking out her tome to write in it. “We’re about to head into Zesty Gourmand’s mind. Are you guys ready?”

“Yup,” Blue replied while rolling his shoulder.

“Prepared,” Mei added.

“Let’s see what makes her tick so we can get some answers,” Nebula agreed.

And with that, Rose drew Zesty’s blood into the blank page…

POOF!